Inside PC Labs: Tuning Windows XP

Whether you have Windows XP Home or Professional, these tips will help you gain better system performance.

Microsoft's new operating system, Windows XP, is now shipping on systems and will soon be available through retail outlets. The OS is based on the Windows 2000 kernel, but users will be happy to discover new settings they can tweak to gain performance. Individual adjustments may result in an increase of only a few percentage points, but the cumulative effect from using our tips can get you some of the boost you seek.

Although the OS is brand-new, hardware makers handed over their drivers to Microsoft months ago so the software giant could test Windows XP's stability. These are the drivers you get when purchasing the OS in a retail environment. PCs shipping with Windows XP may have updated drivers, but checking is always a good idea. One of the simplest ways to check is to run Windows Update as soon as you get your new PC or once you've finished installing Windows XP yourself. The update will happen automatically in most installs, but you can also run it yourself.

Of all the OS's drivers, the graphics card driver holds the most promise for adding performance. You may also be able to squeeze out additional performance by playing with Windows XP's memory settings and visual-effects settings. The OS configures these dynamically after running tests at setup (and during the boot process, if Windows detects certain changes). But you can alter these settings to suit your performance expectations.

The memory setting is straightforward. If the system detects less than 128MB of physical memory during setup, then no background bitmap will display, and fast user switching (which lets other users' processes continue in the background) is turned off. With memory so inexpensive right now, you should upgrade to at least 128MB before installing Windows XP. By doing so you'll get the full visual experience of Windows XP You'll also enhance performance by reducing your system's need to go to the hard drive, which is comparatively slow.

Windows XP chooses default settings for visual effects based on tests it runs after determining the video resolution and color depth. To view the configuration, go to Control Panel, double-click on System, select the Advanced tab, and choose Settings. You will see 16 check boxes for different effects. Most relatively new systems--those produced within the past two years--have most of the effects turned on. Older systems with slower graphics cards and processors have certain features turned off.

Two of our test systems--the 550-MHz Pentium III and the 1.4-GHz Athlon--had all visual effects enabled except for Smooth the Edges (of screen fonts). The 2-GHz Pentium 4 system had all effects enabled. Although sticking with a system's default settings gives the best performance in most situations, you can experiment.

A setting called Best Appearance turns on all effects, and Best Performance turns them all off. Our tests showed that running with Best Appearance selected can result in a 2- to 5-percent performance hit over using the Best Performance setting. Performance comes out somewhere in between if you go with the default settings (except for the Pentium 4 system we tested, for which the Best Appearance settings were also the default).

A setting called Windows Classic doesn't appear to change any of the visual-effects check boxes, but the interface looks about the same as when you turn off all visual effects. Performance using this setting was slightly worse than in Best Performance mode, indicating that some effects are left on.

Windows XP's default settings will satisfy most users. But if you are looking to squeeze every last bit of performance out of your system, consider turning off visual effects. You'll lose the Luna interface look and feel--windows won't slide into place, and the Desktop won't have a 3-D appearance--but you will get some added power.